I hate the serpentine belt
 

my belt was squealing so i got a new belt installed by the shop.

after driving it for about 1000 miles, i notice the squeal is back but only when the engine is hot... shop diagnosed it as me needing a new tensioner and idle pulley.

i bought a tensioner and figured i give it a go at installing. so i thought it was going to be an easy and quick job. well it wasnt.

taking off the belt was suppose to be easy right? it wasnt. but i eventually got it off with the help of a 2nd pair of hands.

then got the new tensioner in and tightened but i cannot get the belt back on. that SOB is really difficult to push back against... i mean it is called a "tensioner" for a reason.

i finally gave up, nothing was going to work. the tensioner was giving me no slack what so ever.

the older tensioner doesnt give me any slack either?!?! ARGH (ranting here)

but FYI, squealing from the belts even when the belt is nice and tight means your idle pulley and/or tensioner is going out. those 2 pulleys wiggle which cause the squealing

looks like i gotta tow this car to the shop tomorrow.

anyone have any tips on how to put the belt back on before i tow it to the shop?

try to slip it on the idler pulley (or was it the waterpump, i forget its been awhile, well the one with no ribs). It has no ribs so it will be the easiest to slip the belt on. It is a two man job unless you got the arm power to release that tensioner all the way and slip it on.

release/hold the tension while the other guy uses some muscle to slip it on. If tensioner is not fully released because your arm is giving out, stop rest and do it again. Once its on, your golden, even if it is not on completely. Just release a little tension and push in from there after.

First: LOL
Second: man handle that on, feed the belt through everything and then put the tensioner on. If you can't get it that way try the pulley up front and the top of the engine. Remove the top 2 10mm(I think) bolts and loosen the bottom one. Use it as a leverage and hulk your way through. Search this site for a how to remove intake manifold, it explains that process and has pics. Might be for clean valves too, don't remember.

I feed the belt around maxed out the tensioner and had another pair of hands put it on the ps pulley.


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ya but how did you guys even move the tensioner? i cannot move mine by hand

i bought the goodoyear gatorback tensioner. that thing is tighter than... (insert imagination).

it gives me zero slack...

Try putting a socket and breaker bar on the pulley bolt and pull. This should give you lots of leverage.

What he said. You are supposed to use a 14mm socket on the pulley bolt, pull as to tighten it and the tensioner will give you slack! If you could move your old one by hand it must have been totally dead!


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@Tedspeed6; maybe can chime in. He does his MS6 belt alone. I did mine but really struggled with it


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Takes a 14mm wrench to loosen the tensioner. I have done this on my CX-7 and it was tight tight. Had to use a long wrench to break it free.

A serpentine belt tool would make it fairly easy. I managed to use an extra long 14mm wrench from a Harbor Freight set and was able to get it on tensioner and move it enough to get the belt back on. The wrench set is cheap and prob $15-20

Ratchet on the tensioner pulley (turn clockwise) to release it to the max...second pair of hand put the belt around the powerstearing pulley...easy as 1-2-3

Couples caffein pills will give the required strength...:P

How do you tighten the belt back on

Once you release the tensioner, the tensioner should take up any slack in the belt. As I mentioned in response to your other post, to loosen the tensioner, I believe you have to rotate it clockwise, not counterclockwise.